Ultragirl #1-3Issue(s): Ultragirl #1, Ultragirl #2, Ultragirl #3 Review/plot: The Appendix and a few other websites say that Ultragirl was created by Barbara Kesel and Leonard Kirk, but issue #1's essay makes it very clear that Mark Paniccia created the character - it was his concept, he did sketches for the character's look and costume which he gave to Kirk to refine, and he worked out the story for these issues with Kesel. I bought this story because it was talked up on the racmu newsgroup. I seem to remember that whoever was promoting it (possibly Paniccia!) was talking about the need for more strong female characters (i don't remember the exact wording) and that was something that i agreed with and i wanted to support the book. By issue #2 i was definitely disappointed with it, though, and i didn't buy issue #3 until much later due to my normal OCD of needing to complete the series (it seems, by the March cover date, that issue #3 was delayed a bit, which may have been a factor in why i didn't originally get it). The essay starts off by admitting that the name Ultragirl is an "awkward, goofy old-school-comics" kind of thing. It then contrasts that kind of theme with most of what was being offered in the 90s, especially with regards to female characters. It then veers in a slightly weird direction: "Well, there's a lot of bad girls out there right now... But we wanted to offer you something different. We wanted to give readers a 'good girl' book." Sounds a little... patronizing even if you don't know that good girl art was a thing that doesn't mean what you may think it means? I'm also not sure that the "Marvel's Sassiest Powerhouse!" tagline on the covers was targeting the right market. The other flavor to distinguish the book was setting it on the West Coast and making Ultragirl's civilian identity - Susanna "Suzy" Sherman - a fame seeking aspiring model. Which actually doesn't make it that unique; it makes it a lot like Wonder Man's solo series, and even gives us a goofy character called Effex (FX!) as a villain. Things start off promisingly. Suzy has recently been growing in muscle mass. She doesn't know why, but she's thinks it's making her"gross" and making her too fat to be a model. And the world reinforces that view by having her rejected for a gig after her (pre-growth) photos initially made her a shoe-in. "It's still a waif market." "A little dieting... and who knows?" It's a perspective that we haven't seen much of at Marvel. I mean, even the idea that female super-heroes might need muscle mass is revolutionary, let alone the comments reinforcing societal beauty norms. Less welcome is a cutesy idea to have the narration be in cursive over a pink background, like we're reading from Suzy's diary. It makes it too hard to read, at least for my tired old eyes. But also, it's a girl's book so we're going to do narration like a girl. I'd much rather see the book embrace the promised "old-school-comics" tone. Suzy is attacked by a Sentinel after she's rejected. At first she thinks it's a "surprise acting audition". And it doesn't seem like the idea was to make Suzy look dumb, despite thinking that anyone would arrange for a giant robot to come crashing through a building to audition someone who hadn't even applied for a role AND being so tuned out of current events that she didn't recognize the robots that were all over the news during the recent Onslaught event. Anyway, once she realizes that it's not an audition, she tries to escape and that's when her super-strength becomes apparent. And then the flight. Note that the Sentinel is calling her a mutant but also noting her Kree genetic structure. Also note Suzy's very unlikely "ultra!" catchphrase. She eventually punches the Sentinel into orbit. All of this is in full view of the news cameras, and she becomes an instant celebrity. She starts getting tons of calls from agents and the like. She gets home and realizes that her outfit is a mess, so she calls in the friends squad. Note the "what have you done?" girl. She'll turn out to be a Kree. Her friends help her design a super-hero costume using "that wetsuit from the calendar thing" which the store let her keep three of because "orange didn't sell". The result: In addition to the Kree girl, Suzy's ex-boyfriend is unimpressed. This is "old-school-comics" of the *choke* *sob* romance variety. To get some more answers about herself, Ultragirl heads back to the Sentinel. She tears apart all but its brain so that she can keep it around for info. I guess this was going to be an ongoing thing, kind of like Juston Seyfert but with the Sentinel just used as a computer. Considering its self-repairing capabilities that probably would have turned into a problem. Anyway, definitely some "awkward" and "goofy" moments but i think it had promise so far. That changes when Effex becomes the bad guy for the next two issues. He starts off setting some forest fires (and Ultragirl learns that she has healing powers when she gets badly burned)... ...but he also does i-don't-know-what with water. At this point the New Warriors have crowded their way into the book. Firestar is weirdly written to be jealous of Ultragirl even though Ultragirl mostly flirts with Rage and gets drooled on by Speedball. Mostly, though, the New Warriors AND Ultragirl just kind of stand around while a local politician yells at them. Eventually Ultragirl tries to work some product placement into her vernacular. Ay-yi-yi. She eventually takes out Effex (who has moved on to earthquakes) while on her cellphone to her ex-boyfriend, who is a science guy (i almost let the cellphone thing go unremarked but then i remembered that they weren't so common at the time; this is meant to be a Hollywood thing). "I love getting my ex-boyfriend to give me the science answers" is not the feminism we are looking for. Effex, also being a publicity hound, chooses to die in an explosion, going out in a bang, and i guess the idea is Ultragirl learns a lesson from this. In the middle of this, Ultragirl is approached by her friend who reveals that she's Kree and that there are a whole bunch of Kree sleepers. Her Kree name is Tsu-Zana (which is basically her Earth name, Susanna). Ultragirl is angered by their plans from her, and storms out. She gets a little more background on the Kree from her Sentinel (nothing a Marvel fan wouldn't know). During the final fight we also see that Ultragirl has a special kind of vision among her powers. It's supposed to do something to her eyes, but i can't really tell what. Ultragirl will later appear in Civil War and Avengers: Initiative and become (a) Ms. Marvel, which makes sense since, as a letter in issue #2 says, "I think Ms. Marvel had identical abilities" (with the color sight representing Carol Danvers' Seventh Sense, i guess). But that's a while from now, and Ultragirl will be in limbo in the meantime. I don't know much about Barbara Kesel (except that she was Karl Kesel's wife at the time, and together they wrote a Hawk & Dove that people seem to like) but her Wikipedia entry says that she "is an outspoken opponent of sexism in the comic book industry" and "is known for her strong female characters". I suspect that she added the bits that we see in the beginning where she used the comments about Suzy's weight to make a broader point. But there's really nothing like that as we get further into the story. The fight with the Sentinel and Suzy's initial brush with fame is kind of muddled but shows potential. Unfortunately, plotwise, it goes way downhill from there. Effex is boring as a single-issue villain let alone one that takes two issues and requires the New Warriors to clutter things up. The book still could have been saved with good scripting, but Ultragirl comes across somewhere between generic and stereotypically whiny, and isn't really given any good foils to work against (the New Warriors are a mistake in that regard; they just highlight how Ultragirl isn't unique). It's a shame because the series and character should have been good. Quality Rating: C- Chronological Placement Considerations: Not much to say, but this definitely takes place after the New Warriors' series since Namorita is here (which just means it fits at publication date). This also explicitly takes place after Onslaught; the Sentinel is one that was damaged during that event and has just now repaired itself. References: N/A Crossover: N/A Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: N/A
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